Dutch Data Center Association presents annual survey of Dutch market

Dutch economy ‘Always on’ thanks to Dutch data centers

Trade organization Dutch Data Center Association (DDA) today presents its report “State of the Dutch Data Centers 2018 – Always On”, the largest annual survey of the Dutch data center sector. Eddy van Hijum, deputy of the Dutch province of Overijssel, received the first copy of the report. The presentation of the report takes place during the annual National Data Center Day. At this day, data centers affiliated with the DDA open their doors to the general public.

The report reflects the growth and developments that have taken place in the data center sector over the past 12 months. The 198 multi-tenant data centers have a gross surface area of 546,000 m2 of which 308,000 m2 is net data floor. The power capacity of the single and multi-tenant data centers is estimated at around 1350 MW. Stijn Grove, Director of the Dutch Data Center Association, said: “We were not surprised to see that the industry also grew strongly in 2017. And the prospects for the entire industry are still excellent due to the ongoing digitization.”

Regional and international growth go hand in hand

The report shows that the demand for regional data center services is increasing in relative terms. This growing demand comes mainly from local authorities, education and healthcare institutions and tech companies. Stijn Grove: “We cannot emphasize enough the importance of regional data centers. All 98 regional data centers spread across the Netherlands ensure that companies and institutions, which are increasingly dependent on IT services, can run and innovate carefree and continuously. With the growth of Edge Computing, we will also see more growth in the region.

International companies are also increasingly finding regional data centers. Due to the relatively short distances and excellent connectivity to the AMS-IX, companies can profit in a cost effective way from local data center services. This was one of the reasons why the report was issued at the head office of Previder, the largest data center provider in the East of the Netherlands. Tim Timmerman, Director of Previder: “Thanks to the perfect Dutch infrastructure and direct connections to both the AMS-IX and the DE-CIX via Frankfurt, Previder has a unique role as a European data hub. Increasingly, organizations are consciously opting for a data center located outside the Randstad area.”

The report also shows that the data center market around Amsterdam, in a radius of 50 km around Amsterdam, has grown by an average of 18% annually over the past 7 years. 71% of all Dutch data center capacity is located in this region. Moreover, this ambition to grow does not seem to be coming to an end for some time to come: some 184,000 m² of floor space in new multi-tenant data centers are planned to be build in the coming years.

The Amsterdam region occupies a unique position because it is both a colocation hub and a hyperscale cluster. This exceptional combination makes Amsterdam the second largest market in Europe just after London, with a market share of no less than 32%. Already, the hyperscale campuses occupy an area of 72,000 m2. Given the strong growth of hyperscalers in the coming years, and especially with the news last week that a new party is planning a 72 hectares hyperscale data center in the North Amsterdam campus, it is only a matter of time before Amsterdam, but actually the whole of the Netherlands, can call itself the largest data hub in Europe.

Data centers: a sustainable business

In addition to the economic importance of data centers, it is also becoming increasingly clear that they can play an important, positive role in the energy transition. For example, the sector relies almost entirely on green electricity and huge steps have been taken in the field of energy efficiency. In addition, residual heat generated by data centers is now increasingly being reused. The DDA study shows that no less than 64% of the DDA participants actively recycle their residual heat. A fantastic first step, but there is work to be done. Stijn Grove: “This residual heat is now mainly used for heating the data centers, but we are now active in various large projects to link data centers to heat consumers. Because a circular society can be achieved together.

Stay informed about the latest data center news? Sign up for the newsletter now!

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Proud member of

About us

The Dutch Data Center Association unites leading data centers in the Netherlands in a common mission: the strengthening of economic growth and the profiling of the data center sector to government, media and society.